Wednesday, June 1, 2011

England cricket team join hunt for maddie !

Sports stars united today to show their support in the search for missing Madeleine McCann.

The England cricket team wore yellow ribbons during their Test match against the West Indies at Headingley and Madeleine's picture was displayed on a big screen at the match.

Support: Michael Vaughan wears yellow Madeleine ribbon

It was the latest high-profile attempt to raise awareness internationally of the youngsters disappearance.

Last night, the four-year-old's face was projected on to Marble Arch in London to help mark International Missing Childrens Day.

The McCann's have also released a previously unseen picture of Madeleine playing happily on holiday shortly before she was snatched.

The snap, released today, was taken by a family friend.

It shows the four-year-old, dressed in bright pink trousers and white T-shirt and pink top smiling as she plays in a garden (above).

Meanwhile police in Portugal have been told of an attempt to snatch a girl similar to Madeleine McCann just half an hour from Praia Da Luz, it has emerged.

Tiny three-year-old Carolina Santos, who is blonde with blue eyes, was found being led away from a family cafe near the town of Silves by a man last year.

Her parents described today how they had left Carolina playing at the front of the roadside cafe in Fonte De Louseiron, a village around half an hour from Praia Da Luz on Christmas Day last year.

"We were busy working in the kitchen and came out to find out she wasn't there," Abel Santos, 40, said.

"I searched around for her and saw her some way away on the road with a man I took to be Moroccan.

"We started towards them shouting and Carolina stopped and turned towards us. He disappeared around the bend."

His wife Lina, 28, added: "It was very strange because Carolina is usually very shy and doesn't go with strangers.

"When I asked her what happened she said he told her that he had another little girl for her to play with.

"There was no other girl. I was so scared.

"If we hadn't come out at that moment I don't know what would have happened."

They reported the incident to police at the time but say they were told they could not make a formal complaint as no crime had been committed.

A spokesman for the criminal Policia Judiciaria (PJ) said that attempted abduction was a crime in Portugal and believed that the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) - a separate force - would have filed a report.

Three days ago the couple contacted police again after a Moroccan man threatened to take their daughter during a row at the cafe.

Police said yesterday that they were investigating these incidents, but were not linking them to Madeleine's disappearance, because there were too many dissimilarities.